The invention relates in general to an apparatus, method and data structure for providing business information, including outsourcing information, to assist businesses in meeting their needs for providing and obtaining a variety of services. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus, method and data structure for facilitating communications between contractors and outsourcing companies that include marketing and search mechanisms, bid management, contractor and outsourcing company assessment, and other various features.
Recently, businesses have turned increasingly to outsourcing work that would be either cost-prohibitive to do in-house or outside of their primary business. Because most outsourcing companies currently use only a few, select contractors with whom they have close ties, significant inefficiencies exist that result in a glut of smaller firms not having access to these outsourcing companies. Further, outsourcing companies are denied competitive pricing due to a limited pool of contractors and occasionally have difficulty finding qualified applicants to perform highly skilled work.
Businesses can also use a middleman or broker to aide their procurement of services. A broker's success is highly dependent on access to market information regarding various goods or services. Although brokers can procure goods and services at reasonable rates and can save time for outsourcing companies, brokers are expensive and their expertise is typically limited to a particular industry or a limited number of industries. To the extent that buyers and sellers of goods and services have access to market information, they can procure goods and services at market; however, gaining such access is a time-intensive activity.
Buyers and sellers can also use umbrella firms to outsource various projects. Umbrella firms seek to establish a contractual relationship with outsourcing firms, who are generally searching for six-to thirty-six-month contracts. The umbrella firms profit by receiving contracts and distributing the contracts to the firms working under their umbrellas. Often, the umbrella firms provide some traditional business services such as bookkeeping, accounting, and billing to the other firms under the umbrella.
The deficiencies associated with past methods, including the use of brokers and umbrella firms, are that they are time intensive, utilize slow processes, draw from a limited pool of contractors, are expensive, and are inefficient.
The foregoing demonstrates that there is a need for an invention which greatly reduces the time required to identify and procure services, improves pricing due to substantial competition, and accomplishes these goals at competitive prices.